Why Celebrate with Bitter Herbs?

Yes, God took us out of Egypt, but He put us there in the first place!

Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt, was obsessed with suffering. The Torah’s first statement about the adult Moses is: “Moses grew up and he went out to his brethren and he saw their suffering…” [Ex. 2:11] Moses did not venture out of Pharaoh’s palace on a fact-finding mission. According to the classical commentator Rashi, Moses went out in order to see their suffering: “He devoted his eyes and his heart to feel pain over them.”

Moses, pampered with a palace upbringing, could not bear witnessing the suffering inflicted on the Hebrew slaves. When he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew, Moses interceded and killed the taskmaster. The next day, instead relaxing in the palace and congratulating himself on a job well done, he was again inexorably drawn to the scene of Israelite suffering.

According to Jewish tradition, Moses is the author of the Biblical Book of Job, the classic text that grapples with the question of why the righteous suffer. This question is quintessentially Jewish since it assumes that life is not random, not subject to the capriciousness of fate, that there is a God of justice and mercy who is running the show. Perhaps that is why Moses, who experienced direct Divine revelation more clearly than any other person in history, was so troubled by suffering. He knew God would never inflict gratuitous pain.

Moses knew that God would never inflict gratuitous pain.

The Book of Job dismisses the various explanations offered by Job’s friends, including the contention that all suffering is punishment for sin. In the end, God Himself speaks to Job out of the whirlwind. But rather than giving answers, He poses questions, questions that point out the puny scale of human understanding compared to the Divine infinitude. Rather than answering the question of why the righteous suffer, the Book of Job asserts that this cosmic conundrum cannot be totally comprehended by mere mortals.

The Torah relates that Moses, the most humble of human beings, made a chutzpah-filled request of God. He asked, “Make Your way known to me” [Ex.33:13]. Rashi quotes the Talmud that Moses was asking God why He allows the righteous to suffer and the wicked to prosper. God responded, “You will not be able to see My face, for no human being can see My face and live.” Instead, God offers a mystical compromise. He places Moses in the cleft of a rock while His glory passes over him, and then allows Moses to see His back. One of the interpretations: In retrospect, sometimes we can see the salutary results of suffering, but not from the front while it’s happening. Not while we humans “live” in this world of physicality and limitation.

PUMPKIN PIE WITH HORSERADISH

Imagine a Thanksgiving table set in a Connecticut home. The family has gathered around to celebrate the survival of the Pilgrims through their first rugged New World winter. There, next to the turkey and the cranberry sauce, is a bowl of snow, symbolizing the fierce cold the Pilgrims endured. Next to that is the emblem of a graveyard, to remember the 45 (out of 102) Pilgrims who perished during that first winter. And the pumpkin pie is laced with horseradish just so no one will forget how much the Pilgrims suffered.

The question "What is the purpose of suffering?" hovers over the Seder.

No Americans would mar their Thanksgiving celebration with symbols of suffering, but this is precisely what we Jews do on Passover. The Seder table includes: salt water reminiscent of the tears the Hebrew slaves shed; charoses symbolizing the mortar used in the backbreaking labor of building; and bitter herbs, eaten to re-experience the bitter suffering of our ancestors. Even the matzah, “the bread of freedom” is also referred to as “the bread of affliction,” the fare of impoverished slaves. The Haggadah, the story of the Redemption, devotes long passages to detailed descriptions of the servitude and suffering in Egypt. What way is this to celebrate our redemption?

In fact, the Seder forces the question that is the conundrum of the Passover celebration: We celebrate that God took us out of Egypt, but who else but God put us into Egypt in the first place? The Ten Plagues were meant to teach both Israelites and Egyptians that God has absolute control over nature and that God micro-manages the world. God could have stopped the immense suffering of the Jews in Egypt long before He did. The dogged question that Jews have been probing ever since Moses ― what is the purpose of suffering? — hovers over the Seder like a mysterious presence.

Clearly, the Seder is about the connection between suffering and redemption. It makes the electrifying statement that redemption is an outgrowth of suffering. Suffering shears away the superfluous and superficial, and lays bare the core self. It reveals to those who suffer levels of fortitude and transcendence they did not know they possessed. Of course, human beings have free will. A person can choose to respond to suffering with bitterness and resentment. But for the person who chooses otherwise, suffering can lead to greatness.

Indeed, the sages refer to the years of torture in Egypt as the “kurhabarzel ― the iron crucible,” employing the metaphor of the vessel silversmiths use to refine silver. Several years ago, a group of women studying the Biblical book of Malachi were struck by the verse, “[God] will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify [the Jewish People]” [Malachi 3:3]. Curious as to how the process of smelting silver applies to God’s treatment of the Jewish People, one woman went to observe a silversmith at work.

As the silversmith held a piece of silver over the fire, he explained that he needed to hold the silver where the flame was hottest in order to burn away all the impurities. The woman, remembering the Biblical verse, asked if he had to sit there the whole time the silver was being refined. The silversmith responded that not only did he have to sit and hold the silver the entire time, but he had to keep a careful eye on it, because if the silver was left in the flame a moment too long, it would be destroyed.

“How do you know when the silver is fully refined?” the woman asked.

“That’s easy," he replied. "When I see my image in it.”

The Prophet’s metaphor was clear: God holds the Jewish People in the hottest part of the fire of suffering in order to completely purify us, but He is with us throughout the process and never takes His eyes off us nor allows us to be destroyed. And the purification will be complete only when God can see His image in us.

NOT AT A WEDDING!

Michal Franklin, our neighbors’ daughter, was murdered in a terror attack. The lovely, gentle 21-year-old had finished her last day of college and was standing near a Jerusalem bus stop when she was blown up by an Arab suicide bomber. Even now, eight years later, I cannot write of Michal’s death without crying.

He was going to talk about his murdered sister under the chuppah.

Five years after Michal’s murder, her younger brother Dovid got married. As a guest at the wedding, I knew my part: I was to smile, act happy, and under no circumstances mention the family tragedy. Standing near the chuppah during the ceremony, I was thus surprised to hear the officiating rabbi announce that the groom wished to speak. As the microphone was handed to Dovid, my whole body tensed. I knew he was going to talk about his murdered sister. I closed my eyes and issued a silent plea: “No, not here! Not now! Don’t stain the joy of your wedding with the black ink of Michali’s terrible death!” I felt my knees start to buckle, but it was too late. Dovid was speaking.

“I want to mention under my chuppah my sister Michal, who isn’t here next to me on this important day. Michali was killed in a terror attack in Jerusalem five years ago. I feel her absence.”

There it was: the bitter herbs in the midst of the Passover celebration. After Dovid spoke, he handed the microphone back to the rabbi. The ceremony continued and concluded. Then something remarkable happened. A burst of joy erupted like a geyser, as if from the earth deep below. It became the most joyous wedding I have ever attended. People danced with exultation, blissful smiles illuminating everyone’s face. The elation was palpable. And the pinnacle of that other-worldly euphoria came when, amidst the circle of women dancing, the bride danced with her new mother-in-law Sarah (Michali’s mother) and Sarah’s mother, a survivor of Auschwitz. The three of them made a circle of intertwined suffering-and-joy that lifted us all to another dimension.

I can’t explain how it happened. I only know that it did.

GOD’S BACK

We celebrate the Jewish nation born through both suffering and the miracles.

The Seder teaches us that suffering causes redemption. But, as Moses learned, we can see only “God’s back.” Only in retrospect, with the passage of time, even eons, is suffering interpretable, and sometimes not in this physical world at all. Most of the mothers whose babies were brutally torn from them by Egyptian soldiers and thrown into the Nile did not live to witness the Exodus from Egypt. And for those who did, did they exit Egypt with a sense of triumph or with the mournful mien we sometimes recognize in Holocaust survivors? For many, no doubt, it took the Splitting of the Sea and the Revelation at Sinai to convince them that the depths of their fiery suffering had forged them into people capable of experiencing the heights of Redemption and Revelation. Only looking back could they discern that their pain was part of a purifying, redemptive process that made it intelligible ― and worth it.

Sitting at our Seder tables this year, with the perspective of 3322 years separating us from the Exodus, we celebrate the Jewish nation that was born through both the suffering of Egypt and the miracles of the Redemption. We appreciate that the two together are the parents who spawned us.

Sara Yoheved Rigler’s all-encompassing online marriage program, “Choose Connection: How to Revive and Rejuvenate Your Marriage” is available to Aish.com readers at a special price. Click here for more info: http://www.jewishworkshops.com/webinars/connection/

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About the Author

Sara Yoheved Rigler is a popular international lecturer on subjects of Jewish spirituality. She has given lectures and workshops in Israel, England, France, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, Chile, Panama, and over 35 American cities. She is one of the most popular authors on Aish.com, world’s biggest Judaism website, and is a columnist for Ami Magazine. Sara Yoheved Rigler is the author of five best-sellers: Holy Woman; Lights from Jerusalem; Battle Plans: How to Fight the Yetzer Hara (with Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller); G-d Winked; and Heavenprints . She gives a weekly Marriage Webinar for Jewish Workshops on a spiritual approach to marriage, with hundreds of members throughout the world. She lives in the Old City of Jerusalem. Her newest book, Emunah with Love and Chicken Soup, the story of Henny Machlis, the Brooklyn-born girl who became a Jerusalem legend, was was released in November, 2016. Her website is: sararigler.com.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 43

(40)
Leah,
April 10, 2017 11:19 AM

Awesome

This article will be shared at our seder along with other Aish gems.

(39)
Jane,
April 6, 2017 10:32 PM

thank you

What a lovely and lucid description of the role of suffering in Jewish life! Thank you for sharing your insights....

(38)
Sasha Honeypalm,
February 26, 2013 11:58 PM

appropriate placement

I was reading the "Life's Gold Nugget" article (about gratitude) heading the Passover Themes section, and I found myself thinking that you could be forgiven for asking why you should be thankful that God helped you out of a bad situation He caused in the first place. Then I scrolled down and saw this article.

(37)
Anonymous,
April 12, 2012 9:31 AM

Question is not answered

Lisa,
I'm glad you found an answer to your question about why God puts suffering but i dont think the author answered it. It's all about faith. The Jews in Egypt needed to be "shlepped" out by God because most wanted to stay as they lost their faith as a result of the suffering. In fact, 4/5 of Klal Yisroel were annihilated by God as they werent deemed to be redeemed because of their spiritual status - clearly as a result of being in a 210 year old situation that they never asked for. ..but if you have faith the question doesnt start....

(36)
DOMinickvirgilio,
April 10, 2012 2:35 PM

i CAN REALLY FEEL FOR DAVID LOSING HIS SISTER I HAVE TWO BROTHERS I AM IN THE MIDDLE I JUST PRAY THAT GOD TAKES ME FIRST SO I DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE PAIN THAT HE WENT THROUGH, I JUST LOST MY LOVELY CAT AND ALTHOUGH SHE"S AN ANIMAL SHE IS GODS CREATION AND IT HURTS I WILL SEE HER AGAIN SOMEDAY

(35)
Lisa,
April 10, 2012 2:29 AM

I always felt guilty ....

I always asked the question none of my friends asked...didn't G-d put us in Egypt in the first place.... So why are we so thankful that he took us out!! Your article explained a lot, albeit you really have to be on a certain level to " chop" all this. These people who turned pain into joy are lucky to have that much emuna...g-d's ways are not easily understood... But if we did understand them all, what kind of G-d would that be?

(34)
suri,
April 9, 2012 1:40 PM

the best article i ever read

wow - this was the most inspiring article - i hope i remember it forever

(33)
Anonymous,
April 9, 2012 11:15 AM

this is just what i needed to hear in such an inspirational way...thank you! suffering proceeding redemption

(32)
chana@jewishmom.com,
April 9, 2012 11:07 AM

beautiful

thanks sara, this was such a moving article. I had a similar experience. Two weeks before my wedding in 1996, two friends of ours, a young couple named Sara Duker and Matt Eisenfeld, were murdered in the number 18 bus bombing. You would think it would be hard to feel joyful at a wedding where two of the guests were absent because they had been killed in a terror attack just a few days before. But I think that there was actually a greater feeling of simcha at our wedding BECAUSE of what had happened, a kind of defiant simcha, like a geyser that burst out of the sorrow we all felt for our young friends who had been killed.

(31)
Neicee,
April 25, 2011 5:00 PM

You have answered the call

You have answered His call to be a light under the nations. Thank you for shedding light on a question I've wrestled with.

Anonymous,
April 9, 2012 10:01 AM

Wow! Answers my question! Thanks!!!

Thank you! Great insight!!

(30)
norma l.,
April 21, 2011 2:04 PM

Finally, s/o noticed that G-d put us into the position of slavery in the 1st place..kinda hard 2feel grateful when u feel He might 've prevented the whole mess in 1st place. i'm child of survivor who grapples w/ this concept daily..tell me more.

(29)
Jonathan Gordon,
April 19, 2011 2:23 PM

Excellent

I just want to say that I really enjoyed your excellent article. It reminded me how the Matsa - which is the essence of bread - is the same thing thing as the silver. Its the bread without the puffinesss (ego) and the symbol of what the Jewish People had to get to so that Hashem could see himself in them.
In essence the Matsa is the "mirror" to see the face of Hashem.
Chag Sameach,
Jonathan

(28)
Anonymous,
April 18, 2011 1:54 PM

joy from pain

A friend just told me a story of the tragic death of a baby in her community. A week later, there was a brit milah of another couple's baby. She was concerned about how they could be joyful at this event, but the father of the brit spoke and mentioned the death of the first baby (the father of that baby was there also). That broke the dam, as it were. She said it was the most joyful, wondrous brit milah she'd ever been to.
We have to acknowledge our pain in order to give life to our joy. Hiding it makes it private; sharing it makes it communal, and when we all feel the pain, we can then all truly appreciate the joy.

(27)
goldie,
April 13, 2011 5:32 PM

Myrrh

reading this was so helpful to me... my nephew (17years of age), my baby sisters only birthed son died in a car accident on April 17th last year... everything that has happened since then has been a sad reminder to us that he is no longer here with us, (in a way we can know). he was a football star of his local highschool, a presidents honor roll student all throughout his schooling and a future college student and possibly football pro!
now he is ashes, or at least his body is... and we have a great nephew that has his name... my sisters first birthed grandson, his sisters baby... and it is all very bittersweet.
I especially enjoyed the part about seeing Gods' hind parts... like only being able to see hope from the end of a suffering. thank you.

(26)
Anonymous,
April 12, 2011 8:08 PM

Please Stop

I cannot stand being in this flame of Gd as you have called it here. My suffering is not valuable or leading me to redemption. I want to give up my Olam Haba all of it. I wish to trade it for mazal in this world. I have done my best and now I am turned away for my pain has not brought me to a better place. I have left the Jewish path. Im tired of dating & not finding my bashert. I'm tired of the Jewisgh ways that don't work and Im tired of the tears I have for others. Im not getting refined in this fire, only angry & botter.

nechama,
April 14, 2011 7:19 PM

Areivim Zeh LaZeh

Anonymous, I don't know if you'll come back here to read this, but just in case.
I don't know what's more powerful, the article I just read, or your comment.
I can't even begin to describe my reaction.
Just know that I'll be davening for you, without a name, it doesn't matter.
People are flawed so we can aid on another. I hope you can see all the people that do care for you and draw strength from there.
Talk to Him.
Yell at Him even. Connection is really key.
I wish you strength and courage.

As someone who has been through his own crucible of suffering, I can attest to the fact that it was indeed to my own good. I couldn't see it at first and the idea that good comes of suffering, as expressed in Job, angered me for many years. It took time to put enough distance between me and my suffering for me to finally see the truth of Job. God's ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are deeper than our thoughts, but He indeed works all things together for good to those who love Him.

(22)
Rose Glasser,
April 10, 2011 8:17 PM

Brings the Passover store- the Exodus alive

BEAUTIFUL!!

(21)
rose,
April 10, 2011 7:49 PM

pesah

sarah i admire you wisdom and it is great tored it
kosher and very peacful pesah

(20)
mike,
April 10, 2011 7:19 PM

i agreed with you-untill the end

to say that people who lived through the Holocaust shoud view it as a "redemptive process and was worth it" is terrible (to put it mildly). we do not know why G-d does certain acts. i feel that this remark comforts no one-most importantly those who have suffered or those who question (as we all do) why people suffer.

(19)
Anonymous,
April 10, 2011 5:06 PM

Please answer the real question.....

Surely an omnipotent G-d can find a more "humane" way of refining us than slaughtering babies while they sleep by Arabs or torturing our people by Nazis and Crusades and Pogroms. If G-d is omnipotent then I'm afraid you really didn't answer the more fundamental question of how could He choose this way of teaching us a lesson or refining us. Even His people are more humane than Him. You never find Jews doing such atrocities. I appreciate your attempt, but it still leaves many of us with this overriding question.

(18)
Rachel,
April 10, 2011 5:03 PM

an incredible article

not an easy one...but an important one. Intelligently and eloquently put. Thank you.

(17)
from New Zealand,
April 10, 2011 11:21 AM

thanks

Sara your articles are always so unique, inspiring and meaningful. Thank you once again for a great article. Wishing you and your family a happy and Kosher Pesach

(16)
Merat,
April 3, 2010 4:27 PM

Magnificent

My husband just died after 3 years of suffering. I journeyed along with him in his suffering.This article has told our story and caught with word and symbols our journey. May he see his reflection in my life. It brought me healing and freedom. Thank you dear Sara, thank you!

(15)
MB,
April 2, 2010 5:34 PM

Beautifuk and inspiring

Thank you for writing such beautiful words that always hit the right note..I think I love your articles so much because they are always extremely rational but completely inspiring, --thanks!

(14)
Anonymous,
April 1, 2010 4:43 PM

We are out of Eygpt

It is during the hard times that we cry out to God. During the good times is the answer God gave us. During the hard times we don't look at life through rose colored glasses. We see the things that really matter about life. Many people on their death bed does not say, they wished they had spent more time in the office, but in that moment before death reality sets in. What they could of done with their life, that they did not do. Passover is a time to think before that death bed experience, to see what matters the most in life, and to be redeem now, so we can live that out, what we have learned. And like our ancestor's, after we leave Eygpt, their is still more to learn. It is not an end to an end. It is just the beginning. To be excited about that big release, is the hope of continued freedom and redemption, the promise land is just around the corner, there is more blessings to come. What came to me right now, is how important praise is, praising God for the big freedoms and the smaller ones. To cry out in praise as often and quickly as we cry out for help during times of suffering. That is a word for me, it is something I so much need to implement in my walk with God. Epecially since we know what chapter two of the Hebrews lives was, and not get into grumbling, learn from them on that, not to make the same mistakes, but to lift out hands to God in praise.

(13)
Anonymous,
March 29, 2010 4:03 AM

Ok to write but we're 'Yotzi".....

Good article aish.com and Mrs Rigler .
Just one thing.........
I live in Melbourne Australia a community far flung Down Under where the majority of people are either Holocaust survivors or children or grand children of survivors.
You may be right Mrs Rigler in what you say just you forgot the final 'punchline' of the Seder "Next Year in Yerushalim"
We've been 'yotzi' done the suffering the Jewish People--- you just have to talk to the Holocaust survivors here in Melbourne many are getting on.
Now it's time to G-d to pay up please!
Send the Moshiach and gather us in so that 'Next Year In Yerushalim ' becomes a reality.
Enough tears and suffering! Please Hashem Please Pay up and bring us all home 'Be'rachamim' to our Jewish home the Land of Israel!
You won't find a better people - you have to just talk to the Holocaust survivors in Melbourne and see how despite the suffering they the vast majority still want to be Jewish and chose Torah and life.
For example we had a survivor here in Melbourne - who passed away here in Melbourne a few years ago a Cohen who would lay Tefillin regularly and he was in 1943 a survivor of The Uprising in Treblinka extermination camp.
What people "Mi'kamcha Yisroel Goy Echad Ba' Aretz".

(12)
Rev.Borris Jovanovich,
March 28, 2010 6:56 PM

Spiritual food

Thank you Sister Sara and G-D bless you for sharing not only a traditional festive remembrance of our people ,yet the spiritual side of it as well that highlights the birth of nation ,yes the birth of Israel as G-D leads them out of the land of suffering . G-D be with you and with our people where ever thy are trough out the all world..

(11)
Yocheved,
March 26, 2010 2:41 AM

thanks

thank you for sharing such bitter sweet article, I live far from the community spent a life longing of going home and now away again I am encuraged knowing that the time of rejoicing will come.

(10)
Shirley,
March 25, 2010 7:15 PM

We will be reading this at our sedar table

You did it again,Sarah! So beautiful, So profound. Thank Hashem for you and your gifts to the Jewish people.
Have an Elevated, Happy, and Kosher Pesach

(9)
RICK,
March 25, 2010 4:02 PM

WHO'S BLAMEING THE HEAVENLY FATHER??

HI SAVANNAH, JUST A THOUGHT. I DON'T THINK ANYONE IS BLAMEING OUR MAKER! BUT ITS CLEAR THAT AS "HE" KNOWS THE FUTURE BEFORE IT HAPPENS, THEN "HE" LEAD THEM TO GO THERE WITH AN ULTIMATE BIGGER PURPOSE IN MIND FOR "HIS" SPECIAL CHOSEN PEOPLE. IN FACT THOSE EVENTS WHERE REPEATED OVER AND OVER THRU ISRAEL'S GENERATIONS. GREAT LESSONS OF A REFINEING NATURE MUST HAVE AN EVENTUAL BLESSING FOR THE JEWS AND ULTIMATELY FOR THE WHOLE OF MANKIND. AS THE SCRIPTURE STATES "HE WOUNDS TO HEAL" FREE WILL IS I THINK AT THE BOTTOM OF IT! BUT WE MUST ALL FOR IT TO WORK, SURRENDER IT OVER TO OUR LOVEING FATHER. AND THEN IN UTTERMOST LOVE "HE" HANDS IT ALL BACK TO US WHEN WE ARE ABLE HANDLE IT ARIGHT.. "HIS" WAYS ARE AFTER ALL SO MUCH "HIGHER" THAN OUR WAYS. YES IT IS VERY HARD AT TIMES TO UNDERSTAND BUT "HE"HAS ONLY OUR ULTIMATE WELFARE AND HAPPINESS AT HEART. AS JOB SAID " EVEN THO "HE" SLAY ME! STILL WILL I TRUST. THE JEWISH NATION IS STILL IN EGYPT ( THE WORLD ) PRAY THAT IF IT BE "HIS" WILL THE SUFFERINGS AND LESSONS OF BITERNESS SOON BE OVER. MAY "HE" SMILE ON YOU ALWAYS.

Daniela,
April 22, 2011 1:31 AM

To Rick

You have some very valuable things to say, but please know that when you write in all caps, in the world of the internet all caps means shouting. Please refrain from writing this way, as it's hard to read and isn't necessary. Thank you. :)

(8)
Mordechai Perlman,
March 25, 2010 10:54 AM

Very good

The article was very good. Very, very good. I have one small correction. It was not proper to write that Moshe had a "chutzpa-filled" request, unless there is a source for such a description in Chazal.

(7)
e k,
March 25, 2010 12:30 AM

you soothed my soul

Your fabulous article touches on certain issues that I have struggled with all my life. I plan to reread it many times to let the answers reach parts of my soul that whispered the question about us having been enslaved in Egypt in the first place. I have also thought of the poor mothers who didn't live to experience the redemption but were victims of the cruelty that took their children. As a daughter of holocaust survivors my mind naturally associates the human suffering to our times as well. Your insights about free will and spiritual purification resonate in my soul. Thank you.

(6)
RICK,
March 24, 2010 11:38 PM

SUFFERING ITS PURPOSE

THANK YOU SO MUCH THE EXSPLANATION OF MALACHI 3;3
UNDERSTANDING THE NEED FOR SUFFERING IN A PERSONS OR NATIONS LIFE IS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND! JUST LIKE REFINEING SILVER!! CAN I EVER HOPE THAT THE HEAVENLY ONE WILL SEE HIMSELF IN ME?? I PRAY THAT HE WILL SEE HIS FACE IN HIS BLESSED NATION ISRAEL AND THRU THEM BRING A BLESSING TO GENTILES ALSO. MAY HE BLESS AND PROTECT YOUR LAND AND JERUSALEM

(5)
Savannah,
March 24, 2010 6:39 PM

Why do we always need to blame G-d?

I disagree that God put you there in the first place. God showed the Isrealites where the food was during the famine but it was up to the Isrealites weather to stay or go once the famine was over in seven years. Life became easy under Joseph and the old Pharaoh and when the new Pharaoh came into being things became harsh and then you blame G-d

(4)
Anonymous,
March 24, 2010 5:54 PM

Sara, wonderful article.

Chag sameach!

(3)
anonymous,
March 24, 2010 5:48 PM

Unbelievable! Beautiful!

(2)
Antonio,
March 24, 2010 5:11 PM

God has a purpose for everything.

Yes, Hashem took our people to Egypt and He brought them out. Jews have suffered everywhere and in many ways, but have always made it through it. Instead of complaining, we can learn from our experiences. The Peshach and exodus have many things to teach us and we pass them on to the next generation. In my opinion, this is the blessing of our tradition, of Judaism.

Since honey is produced by bees, and bees are not a kosher species, how can honey be kosher?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Talmud (Bechoros 7b) asks your very question! The Talmud bases this question on the principle that “whatever comes from a non-kosher species is non-kosher, and that which comes from something kosher is kosher.”

So why is bee-honey kosher? Because even though bees bring the nectar into their bodies, the resultant honey is not a 'product' of their bodies. It is stored and broken down in their bodies, but not produced there. (see Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 81:8)

By the way, the Torah (in several places such as Exodus 13:5) praises the Land of Israel as "flowing with milk and honey." But it may surprise you to know that the honey mentioned in the verse is actually referring to date and fig honey (see Rashi there)!

In 1809, a group of 70 disciples of the great Lithuanian sage the Vilna Gaon, arrived in Israel, after traveling via Turkey by horse and wagon. The Vilna Gaon set out for the Holy Land in 1783, but for unknown reasons did not attain his goal. However he inspired his disciples to make the move, and they became pioneers of modern settlement in Israel. (A large contingent of chassidic Jews arrived in Tzfat around the same time.) The leader of the 1809 group, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, settled in Tzfat, and six years later moved to Jerusalem where he founded the modern Ashkenazic community. The early years were fraught with Arab attacks, earthquakes, and a cholera epidemic. Rabbi Israel authored, Pe'at Hashulchan, a digest of the Jewish agricultural laws relating to the Land of Israel. (He had to rewrite the book after the first manuscript was destroyed in a fire.) The location of his grave remained unknown until it was discovered in Tiberias, 125 years after his death. Today, the descendants of that original group are amongst the most prominent families in Jerusalem.

When you experience joy, you feel good because your magnificent brain produces hormones called endorphins. These self-produced chemicals give you happy and joyful feelings.

Research on these biochemicals has proven that the brain-produced hormones enter your blood stream even if you just act joyful, not only when you really are happy. Although the joyful experience is totally imaginary and you know that it didn’t actually happen, when you speak and act as if that imaginary experience did happen, you get a dose of endorphins.

These chemicals are naturally produced by your brain. They are totally free and entirely healthy.

Many people find that this knowledge inspires them to create more joyful moments. It’s not just an abstract idea, but a physical reality.

Occasionally, when I walk into an office, the receptionist greets me rudely. Granted, I came to see someone else, and a receptionist's disposition is immaterial to me. Yet, an unpleasant reception may cast a pall.

A smile costs nothing. Greeting someone with a smile even when one does not feel like smiling is not duplicity. It is simply providing a pleasant atmosphere, such as we might do with flowers or attractive pictures.

As a rule, "How are you?" is not a question to which we expect an answer. However, when someone with whom I have some kind of relationship poses this question, I may respond, "Not all that great. Would you like to listen?" We may then spend a few minutes, in which I unburden myself and invariably begin to feel better. This favor is usually reciprocated, and we are both thus beneficiaries of free psychotherapy.

This, too, complies with the Talmudic requirement to greet a person in a pleasant manner. An exchange of feelings that can alleviate someone's emotional stress is even more pleasant than an exchange of smiles.

It takes so little effort to be a real mentsch.

Today I shall...

try to greet everyone in a pleasant manner, and where appropriate offer a listening ear.

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